Chapter 247: Parker

The activity of dark creatures cannot exist without death energy!

In areas thick with death energy, they grow even more active, like an unceasing machine, wandering freely and attacking all living beings.

But outside dark death zones, their vitality gradually declines over time.

Especially during daylight, under sunlight, the dark death energy on their bodies drains at an extremely rapid rate.

Under normal circumstances, a low-tier dark creature can survive at most two days in a normal area devoid of death energy.

This is why, though dark creatures pose a serious threat to the Continent of Glory, they have never truly swept across the entire continent to bring endless catastrophe.

Because their source of death energy mostly overflows from the world they came from.

Later, they can also accelerate the spread of death energy by slaughtering living beings.

But the kingdom's heartland is filled with numerous powerful nobles of all ranks.

Once a new death energy spread point appears, the nobles will crush it within a short time.

Only at the borders—such as the Death Mountains and the Chaos Wastelands—where no one notices, can they slowly grow stronger.

Of course, because the population there has dwindled, the threat posed by dark creatures is also less severe.

It merely means the kingdom will have to expend more effort to clean them up later.

…

"Kill!"

"Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!"

The battle for Parker's Castle had begun.

Knowing that no one would survive if the castle fell, both elite guards and serf soldiers fought with all their strength, giving their utmost.

Though the dark creatures were numerous, the main force attacking the walls were still the skeleton soldiers.

The reason was simple.

Although legends say that when dark creatures reach disaster-level numbers, they truly know how to use tools to assault human cities,

those are merely legends.

And the current numbers are vastly insufficient.

Thus, the dark creatures outside Parker's Castle showed no such behavior.

Facing the eight-to-nine-meter-high walls, neither dark hounds nor carrion beetles could scale them.

Only the skeleton soldiers could use their hardened finger and foot bones to insert directly into the gaps between the wall stones.

Though these gaps had been filled with clay, to the skeleton soldiers they were as good as nonexistent—they could slowly climb using these crevices.

Moreover, the skeleton soldiers' climbing method made the defenders feel even more pressure than fighting a normal army.

Because the space outside the castle gate was not wide—merely a small platform of over ten meters.

If it were human troops, they would need ladders, at most seven or eight.

The guards only needed to focus on a few ladders.

But these skeleton soldiers could appear anywhere along the walls.

Even along the cliff sides, skeleton soldiers might climb up!

This greatly increased the difficulty of defense.

Fortunately, these skeleton soldiers were half as strong as ordinary humans and could not retaliate while climbing, preventing Parker's Castle from being overrun instantly.

"My lord, do you think they can hold out?"

"Hard to say. If it were a baron's castle, with walls only seven or eight meters high, the difficulty would be much greater!"

"But a viscount's castle has taller walls and more complete defenses—it's not certain!"

Gervas shook his head in response to Migen's question.

A thousand dark creatures, if suddenly invading a village or even a small town, would be an absolute catastrophe.

But a fortress like this castle still posed considerable difficulty.

If Parker hadn't previously been crushed by him, losing even his guardian knight, these thousand dark creatures could never have threatened Parker's Castle!

"Fine! I was hoping to see Parker's Castle breached, those bastards getting devoured by dark creatures!" Migen said, disappointed—typical of someone who loves chaos.

"Migen, even if the dark creatures fail to breach it, Parker's men will likely be exhausted by then, making our entry into the castle far easier!" Knight-Marshal Lei Meng cared only about the battle.

"Haha, that works too! I'll be the first to storm the castle for my lord, and see the shock on Parker's face when he sees us!"

"Show-off!" Gervas scowled. "By the way, how are the people of Parker's village doing?"

"My lord, when the dark creatures were lured here, dozens wandered over to that side—now the village is in complete chaos, all villagers fleeing in panic!"

"Good!"

Gervas finally felt at ease.

Those villagers would be the best witnesses to tonight's dark creature attack.

Later, when the kingdom sends investigators, their testimonies will directly clear Gervas of suspicion.

So even if the dark creatures hadn't wandered over themselves, Gervas would have found a way to lure some there.

Now that they'd gone there on their own, it was even more convenient.

…

Time passed second by second, soon reaching the late night.

The screams from the village had completely vanished—clearly, all who could flee had escaped.

But at the castle, the noise continued.

The dark creatures' roars and shrieks still rang out.

The skeleton soldiers' assault continued as well.

Yet both sides were suffering heavy losses—that was real.

Of the original seven or eight hundred skeleton soldiers, at least half were now gone.

Parker's guards had likely also lost half their numbers.

Overall, Parker's Castle might still hold against the dark creatures' assault.

Because if the remaining two or three hundred skeleton soldiers could be eliminated, the other dark creatures would be left helplessly watching from below the walls.

Gervas had originally expected this.

But when the time reached around two or three in the morning, an unexpected change occurred.

From within Parker's Castle, which had gradually quieted, came a sudden, piercing scream.

The remaining two or three hundred dark creatures at the gate poured through the entrance, flooding into the castle.

"What's going on?" Gervas stared, dumbfounded.

He had prepared to lead his men in cleaning up the aftermath—yet the castle had fallen so suddenly.

Though this suited his plans perfectly, it was far too abrupt.

Soon, Gervas's confusion was resolved.

Isabella, who had been monitoring from the air, returned and reported the details.

They had found a massive hole at the base of the castle gate.

In other words, while the skeleton soldiers were attacking, the dark creatures hadn't been idle—they had managed to destroy the gate.

Though this was extremely difficult, since the castle gate was made of very hard ironwood and sheathed in iron plating,

the dark creatures had nonetheless succeeded.

Without the gate's barrier, even just two or three hundred dark creatures were enough to overwhelm everyone inside Parker's Castle!

"Ha! It's the Divine Light of Glory manifesting! My lord, the Divine Light of Glory has punished that shameless, despicable Viscount Parker!"

"Exactly! The Divine Light of Glory must have known Parker committed countless evils, so he received this deserved fate!"

Upon hearing this, Migen and the others burst into gleeful laughter.

Still, Parker truly had terrible luck!